Occidental at Xcaret Photographer: Book Free, Pay Only for the Photos You Love

Three Shoots We Photograph for Families Staying Here

The families who write us from this hotel arrive as a unit: the kids, and very often a grandparent or two who quietly paid for a chunk of the week. Nobody is a model, most have never hired a photographer before, and everybody is working inside a budget they have already spent. These are the three sessions we photograph most for guests staying here.

Families with little kids

Small children are the reason we shoot early and keep it short. We work in bursts — dig, run, splash, then a frame — and we are off the sand inside an hour, before anyone is hot, hungry or done with us. The beach we use has calm, shallow water at the edge, so a two-year-old can wade while we work instead of being held still for pictures he will resent by lunchtime. Our family session guide shows the pace we mean.

The grandparents’ trip

When the grandparents come along, the group photo stops being optional — and it is usually the one that does not exist yet. We choreograph it so nobody hides in the back row: the full lineup first while everyone is fresh, then quick rotations — grandparents with the baby, the cousins in a heap, each little family on its own. That is a group session, and it fits inside the same hour.

Everyday vacation memories

No occasion at all, and no announcement. Plenty of guests here simply want real photographs of the week instead of a camera roll full of strangers’ shoulders — the toddler meeting the sea, the teenagers pretending they are too cool for this. Our vacation photoshoot guide shows the kind of easy frames an hour like that produces.

How We Get You From Your Room to Open Sand

You are staying at Km 282 of the Carretera Federal, roughly ten kilometres — about six miles — south of downtown Playa del Carmen, which sounds like a problem until you price the ride. A taxi into town runs ten to fifteen minutes, and it is the same taxi you were already going to take for dinner on Fifth Avenue — so most families here shoot on the way in and stay for the evening rather than making a separate trip of it. Cancun airport is just under an hour north and Tulum is about forty-five minutes south, which is why we usually suggest booking the first or second morning: you land, you settle, and the photos are done before the week gets busy.

Where we take you is Punta Esmeralda — open, free and public, with a freshwater cenote running straight out onto the sand, which means the kids have something to do between frames instead of asking how much longer. Playa Mamitas, closer to the middle of town, is the other option; with toddlers we almost always pick Esmeralda, because a bored two-year-old ends a session faster than weather does. Either way you get open sand with the real Playa del Carmen behind you, rather than loungers and towers in every frame.

For couples or groups of up to 4, we can pick you up. Message us and we’ll work it out based on your hotel.

Travelling without the kids for once, or marking something bigger? Ask about our signature beach-gown editorial sessions in Playa del Carmen — metres of fabric in the morning breeze, made for the one frame that belongs on a wall.

Simple Pricing, No Session Fee

Pricing is refreshingly simple: there is no session fee. You pay $15 USD per photo with a 10-photo minimum ($150 USD), or choose a group package from $200 USD when the whole family wants in — so you only ever pay for the images you love, which takes all the pressure off an hour with unpredictable toddlers. You can see everything we offer, and hundreds of recent sessions, on our Playa del Carmen photographer page.

Every hotel has its own rules about photography on the property. We know how each one works — message us and we’ll tell you exactly what your options are where you’re staying.

Almost nobody who books us has been photographed properly before, and they usually apologise for it in the first message. There is nothing to apologise for — we direct the whole thing, and you can see how that turns out on our Playa del Carmen photographer page. Send us your dates and we will tell you which morning of your week to keep free.